How to detect printing

Arkki

Is there a way, in php, to detect if the client is trying to print the document instead of just displaying it on the screen? Perhaps it shows in the request header somewhere?
I know i could do this with stylesheets too (link rel="stylesheet" media="print") but it'd be more convenient to use some sort of if-else statement along with browser detection to leave navigation bars and other extra stuff away.

stolzyboy

do you not want the client to print, or what are you trying to do here

Arkki

The point is to exclude header and footer from the document if someone is trying to print it with the client's printing feature. I was wondering if i could detect this somehow, and do something like this:
<html>
<body>
<?php
$printing = //detect whether or not trying to print
if (!printing) print_title_and_navibars();
?>

<?php
if (!printing) print_footer();
?>
</body>
</html>
So that menus and other graphical extra stuff wouldn't appear on paper.

danielson2k

why not just have a link to a stripped down printable version like on these boards?

Arkki

Sure that's an option, but I still wanted to know if there was a way to do it like this. Apparently not. Thanks for the replies anyway.

stolzyboy

i don't believe you can check if someone is printing

feldon23

<?php
$printing = $_GET['printing'];
$php_self = $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'];

if (!isset($printing)) {

// display header

}

// display the rest of your page

echo "<a href=\"".$php_self."?printing=true\">Click here</a> 
for a printer-friendly version of this document.";

if (!isset($printing)) {

// display footer

}

?>